Untitled
by butraura
Summary: After weeks of silent suffering, Maya reaches a breaking point and Lucas is there to put her back together.
1. secrets

I'd like to start off by saying that this is my first GMW fic, so bear with me. I don't have a great record with finishing chapter fics but I'm going to try.

Secondly, I'd like to say that I don't remember if Lucas's father has been introduced yet (before Girl Meets Texas). So for the purposes of this story, his name is Jackson Friar.

Lastly, I'd like to say that the cover image for this story is an edit by "lucaya. peybrina" (no spaces), but I don't know from which platform. Hit me up on twitter by the same name on instagram or twitter and I'll credit you properly, OP. :) Love the pic!

* * *

Maya crouches lowly underneath a stairwell at John Q. Adams. She's trembling, tears pouring down her face, unsuccessfully trying to regain composure. She's completely torn apart at the seams.

Riley, Farkle, and Lucas are looking for her everywhere. But she's so skillfully hidden she probably couldn't find herself here if she was lost. Her sleeves are soaked from wiping her eyes. Her arms are tired. She wants to be at home. But nowhere is safe. She even ditched her phone in the classroom so no one could find her - Riley's obsessed with the Find Friend app.

She always thought she could handle people picking on her. She always did. She's short, opinionated, blonde, and not the sharpest tool in the shed. These things alone came with their own jokes. And she could handle them when they were words. Now they're actions.

This guy from the grade above hers has been making Maya his personal victim. He shoves her in to lockers when no one's around, he pushes her in to walls. He threatened her not to tell anyone, or else he'd do worse to her AND Riley. Her ribs have bruises on them. There's a cut four inches long on her shoulders that her t-shirts barely cover.

In class she can forget. In class, he isn't there. Riley and her friends are. It's easy to forget. But the second she walks out of the safety of her History class, she gets nervous and scared. She stays with her friends as long as she can. She tried to pretend she's okay. Until it was too hard to pretend anymore. She broke down in class earlier.

"War!" Mr. Matthews had begun. "What's it good for? Why do we need war?"

"To resolve conflict!" someone replied.

"To get what you want!"

"Nothing," Maya had yelled, startling the class with her outburst. "War is good for nothing! It ruins lives and hurts people!" She started tearing up. Everyone stared at her.

"Maya?" Riley had said quietly.

Maya had run from the classroom faster than she'd ever run before. She found a tiny space beneath the stairs. And that's how she got here.

"Maya?" she hears faintly. She swallows and stills so no one hears her. "Maya!" Again. The voices interchange but she can hear the boys.

"Maya Hart, answer me!" Riley calls angrily.

She slams her back against the wall so she doesn't make noise. But it hurts her more than ever, because she's reminded of everything she's endured up until this point. Every bruise starts to ache and every scratch starts to bleed, it seems. She hisses a little with the burn.

She hears someone getting closer and tenses up. She ducks her head and prays for the figure to turn away. It gets closer and the shadow gets bigger. She holds her breath.

Lucas peers around the corner and his eyes bug out. Maya looks away, embarrassed.

"Did you find her?" Riley calls from the distance.

He stares at her, all defeated and broken. "N-no," he answers. "Nothing." Riley yells exasperatedly in the distance. Maya looks up in gratitude, but says nothing. She couldn't deal with speaking to Riley. Not now. He comes over and sits next to her, settling in close so not to alert the others to her location.

He squishes against her and she winces involuntarily. He pauses and looks at her. She doesn't make eye contact. He nods at her shoulder, where she winced. "I'm fine," she answers the silence.

"Show me," he demands. She shakes her head. "Show me, Maya," he repeats in a level tone, dangerously close to yelling. "Now."

She sighs shakily and removes her jacket, revealing an ugly bruise, purple-brown in colour and a few inches round. Lucas exhales sharply. He hesitantly brushes his thumb across it, and Maya yelps. "Stop," she pleas. He withdraws his hand instantly.

"What the hell happened?" he whispers. She bites her lip. "Maya."

"Oh nothing," she attempts. "I was crawling through the bay window and it fell on me," she lies, laughing.

"Maya," Lucas barks. "I know you're lying. You come and go from that thing all the time and it never budges." He makes her look at him. "So tell me. What happened?"

There's a moment of silence between them. "I should have kept my mouth shut," she breaks hysterically. "I shouldn't have said anything to him." She runs her fingers through her hair and closes her eyes. "I shouldn't have-"

"Who, Maya, who shouldn't you have said anything to?" he interrupts hastily. He grabs her wrists and holds them securely. She stares at them. "Please," he adds.

"He told me my mom was useless, and that she basically deserved nothing." A fresh set of tears flow down her cheeks.

"Who the hell said these things to you?" Lucas was getting angry.

"He's in an older grade. Griffin," she whispers, scared.

"This kid caused that bruise?" he clarifies. She nods, but pauses. He waits. She fully removes her jacket and rolls up her sleeves. She's painted in an array of colours. "What the-" she holds her finger up, interrupting him. She carefully reveals her shoulder with the long scratch.

Lucas jumps up and paces angrily. He says nothing, but Maya can tell he's pissed. He smacks the wall then, and she jumps. She bites her lip and looks away, rubbing at her arm. He kneels in front of the girl with the long blonde hair and tucks it behind her ears. "Tell me what happened."

She slumps in defeat against the wall. "One day after school, I was leaving. It was that day that Riley had her dentist appointment so I was alone," she begins. "And that was okay. I've been alone before. But as I was leaving I walked by him with a group of his friends. He called to me, 'hey Hart, next time your mom makes me sandwich can you tell her to make it properly,' and 'this crap is disgusting'.

"'Shut up, Griffin,' I said back. He threw the sandwich at me. Tuna and cheese got in my hair and all over one of the outfits Shawn bought me." She takes a shaky breath. "I turned around and he was coming after me, but being who I am I didn't think anything would happen. He pushed me in to the locker behind me. It hurt so bad, I immediately had a headache. He held me against them and said, 'you ever speak to me that way again and I will make sure it's the last thing you say. Your mother is the worst waitress I've ever seen. She's the help and even she can't help herself. She's pathetic'. And I shoved him off me. 'At least I have a mom,' I said. I know I shouldn't have." She's crying again. Lucas holds her hand while she finishes. "That's when he said I was gonna regret it. And I do. Oh, God, Lucas, I'm so scared."

He hesitantly hugs her, wary of her injuries. He pulls back. "This asshole has been hurting you for three weeks. Why didn't you tell me?" he asks, attempting a soft tone.

"I told you, I-"

"No," he interrupts. "You told me what he said. But do you really think Mr. Matthews would let that kid stay? Do you really think I'd let that kid live? I'm gonna go find that kid."

"No," she replies, panicked. "Don't become Texas Lucas again."

"Too late." Lucas takes off and Maya doesn't move from the stairwell the rest of the day. She's too scared. Too humiliated. And she doesn't want to face anyone.

School ends at 3:15.

Students run down the stairs like a herd of elephants. The noise is deafening but she remains in her hideout, below the herds. She rests her head on her knees, tired. She's cried so much lately, she's fairly certain that she's all dried up.

3:47, she's heard no one for 23 minutes. Not a whisper nor a footstep. She carefully, quietly makes her way out of the hideout. Her limbs hurt from the tension and her butt is going numb. She walks through the door slowly, walking towards the nearest exit - around the corner. She nears the corner and hears voices, paralyzing her. She stops dead in her tracks and listens.

There's a loud crash and she almost screams in surprise, but holds her composure. She peeks around and sees Griffin getting thrown in to a locker, and Lucas, the thrower. "The fuck," Griffin spits, standing up. "You here to protect your girlfriend's girlfriend, Loser?" He laughs.

"No," he smiles wickedly. "I'm here to get justice."

"Oh no, we got a John Quincy vigilante," Griffin yells in mock horror.

Lucas shrugs and kicks Griffin in his shins before kneeing him in the stomach and letting him drop. "Back in Texas, I got kicked out of my school for drawing blood," he whispers, getting down to eye level with Griffin. "And I told myself I would never go back to that time. Where the clown, such as yourself, was on the ground, in as much pain as you'd expect from a pointy boot and my own strength." He smiles, patting the guy on the back. "I could do that, if you'd like. I'd get expelled for the sake of my friends. But your friends are gone, Griffin. So it's just you and me. You need to decide if beating the shit out of Maya was worth me beating the shit out of you."

"You're pathetic," Griffin snaps. He stands up quickly, wobbling slightly. He steps toward Lucas menacingly, who steps back with each movement.

"Okay, look," he puts his hands up defensively. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm just going to walk away," he says slowly, retreating slowly. Griffin laughs and pounces at Lucas's back. But Lucas was expecting him, per his plan, and turns around with one swift motion and kicks the boy in the chest with the side of his leg. Shit was straight out of Karate Kid. Griffin falls to the floor and is silent. "Not sorry," Texas Lucas claims.

Maya comes out from the corner in tears, and is immediately met by his open arms. He cradles her head in his chest and hugs her as tightly as he can without hurting her too much. The principal comes out from around the corner and yells in surprise. "What the heck is going on here," he demands. He looks from Griffin to Maya to Lucas and back to Griffin, confusion and anger in his face. "Mr. Friar, did you do this to him?"

Lucas steps forward slightly, but doesn't remove his arm from Maya's shoulders. "Yes, sir," he says. "But he attacked Maya," he adds.

"Miss Hart, is this true?" Principal Wentworth asks her, unconvinced.

Maya stares at the man, scared and frail. She takes a deep breath and steps away from Lucas, who hesitantly lets her go. She approaches the principal uneasily and removes her jacket, revealing what she had earlier shown Lucas. He gasps and she turns around. She pulls all her hair back around one side of her neck and nods at Lucas to help her. He comes over and, in the gentlest way he could, pulls the shirt down to reveal the cut a Griffin made on her back.

Principal Wentworth is silent, but he stares back and forth at Maya and Griffin.

"Sir, I was just protecting Maya. This has been going on for weeks," Lucas tells him.

Just then, the secretary comes from around the corner. "Sir, paramedics and the NYPD are on their way."

He just nods and approaches Maya. "We need to get you sitting down," he says. "I don't want to hurt you, so are you going to be able to walk to my office?" She nods but her eyes trail to the boy beside her. "Mr. Friar will escort you." She starts walking, Lucas's arm around her waist to keep her upright.

She doesn't say anything on the short walk there, but as soon as they enter the office, the secretary is on them, with a bottle of water and ice. "You poor thing," she fusses, gesturing for them to sit down on the couch. "Just sit here and rest."

"Can I have some Advil?" Maya asks, her voice going hoarse from crying.

"I'm sorry, honey, I can't," the secretary replies quietly. "Schools aren't allowed to provide medicine like that to students and even if we were I still couldn't give it to you. The paramedics will take care of you, I promise."

Maya sighs and settle in to the couch beside Lucas and sinks in to his side. She closes her eyes and breathes shakily. "Hey," he says to her, nudging her up. She looks up at him, eyes red and swollen. "You're going to be okay," he promises. He wipes her old tears away with his thumb and she nods.

"I-I know. Tha-Thank you," she sputters. "You didn't have to do what you did."

"Don't do that," he says.

"Do what?"

"Feel guilty about what's going to happen to Griffin or me. Just don't do it," he says. "You've been through enough shit." He puts his arm up, indicating she was welcome to lean on him, but instead she lays down on the couch with her head in his lap. He rests his arm on her shoulder. She takes a deep breath and lets the exhaustion take over. God knows, she hasn't slept properly in weeks. He rubs her arm in a soothing motion, careful to be gentle. She winces off and on but stays quiet.

Lucas watches her closely as she rests. She's not really asleep but she's somewhere else. Somewhere better than John Quincy Adams. Maybe she's in the bay window in Riley's apartment.

Riley.

He sighs. What was he supposed to tell her? He lied to her. He knew where Maya was. His thing with Riley was basically over already but he still loves her. She was his friend. He hated to think that she would be mad at him for not telling her. But it wasn't about her, he supposes. It's about Maya, the girl who was stronger than everyone he's ever known, needing strength. It was about someone actually going out of their way to physically hurt Maya. It was bigger than everything else.

The cops would be here soon. He stops rubbing and leans his head back on the couch. The adrenaline rush was starting to crash and burn. He feels heavy and tired. He closes his eyes. He remembers a time when Maya would be obnoxious and rowdy in class. He yearns for the times she called him Ranger Rick. Or Huckleberry. He realizes now that she hadn't done that in a while. Three weeks, even.

He starts to drift when Principal Wentworth walks in with two officers, a woman and a man, behind him. "Mr. Friar," he says quietly. "Is she awake?"

Lucas nudges Maya awake gently, lifting her to sit. "Mm," she mumbles her response.

"Maya," the woman says. "My name is Liz, and I'm from the NYPD. I just need to ask you a few questions about Griffin Feldman. Do you think you can do that?"

Maya looks to Lucas, who gives her hand a light squeeze. "Yeah," she replies.

"Great. We're going to stay here and Lucas is going to go outside with Officer Gomez, okay? A medic is going to come in and sit with you while we talk so she can check on you. Principal Wentworth is going to be here as well until your mother shows up because I can't legally talk to you without an adult present."

Lucas stands up and lets the medic take his spot. She smiles at him. "I'll take care of you when I'm done here, okay?"

"I'm fine," he insists. "Nothing happened to me."

"Darlin', you have a bruise the size of Texas around your eye and it's already purple," she says.

Shocked, he carefully brings his fingers to the bruise and winces when he touches it. "I didn't notice." She nods and he leaves the room with Officer Gomez.

"Mr. Friar," Principal Wentworth calls. "Your father is on his way as well." Lucas nods.

He follows the officer out in to the hallway and they close the door. He sighs. "Is she going to be okay?" he asks.

"There might be some post-traumatic stress symptoms but other than that I can't tell you. We need the medical report to know."

Lucas looks outside and sees the flashing lights on the vehicles. He sighs. "Am I in trouble?" he wonders.

"We'll have a series of questions to you about the victim and if you knew him before the incident."

"Wait, Griffin isn't the victim!" he yells. "He's the one who was hurting Ma-"

"I know that, but he's still badly injured. He's being taken to the hospital right now," Gomez interrupts.

"Cry me a river," Lucas rolls his eyes. "He's been abusing the hell out of Maya because she told him to shut up!" He slams his fist in to the locker behind him.

"Calm down, Friar. I have the means to restrain you," Gomez warns, showing his handcuffs.

"There'll be no need for that, officer," Lucas's father says, suddenly appearing. He comes over to his son and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Why am I here?"

Lucas takes a deep breath. "Maya was getting beat up by this kid so I returned the favour," he explains firmly.

His father nods. "He was actually physically hurting her?" His son nods. "Okay. So why are y'all questioning him and not the son of a gun that hit a girl?"

Officer Gomez shakes his head. "It's not an interrogation, sir. We just need a statement from Lucas for the DA and there will be a few questions as well regarding the attack."

"The way I see it, my son defended his friend from someone no better than wife-abusing schmo's in your lockup," Lucas's father says in his thick, southern accent. "If I need to call my lawyer, tell me now."

"Well, sir, that's up to you."

"Right. Let me call him." His father pulls his cell phone from his pocket and steps away to call the lawyer.

"Dad." Lucas whispers. "Call Mrs. Matthews. But don't let her tell Riley." His request is met with a curt nod. He looks to Gomez. "Can I please talk to Maya quickly?" Gomez checks his watch and opens the door to the office. Lucas peers in. "Maya?" He looks at her and she's clearly been crying again. "I... My father is calling Mrs. Matthews to represent me if things go south. I'll ask her not to tell Riley until you're ready."

There are open bandages and alcohol wipes spread across the table in front of Maya and the medic. She looks scared, but she nods. "Thanks."

"How is everything?" he wonders, doing a once over.

"The bruises will heal but one of the cuts on my back is badly infected. I couldn't reach it to clean it and I didn't know it was infected at all. I've been in so much pain.." she chokes back tears. "I didn't notice the tissue was necrotic."

He bites his lip to keep his composure. Just then, Katy storms in and Lucas is ushered out by Gomez. Lucas's dad returns. "Topanga is going to meet us at the precinct," he explains. "But I didn't tell her anything yet."

"Thanks, Dad."

"You're my son, it's what I do. But I don't want to pack up and move again. So I hope Mrs. Matthews is better than the family lawyer."

"She's the best."

Gomez sends a message to the officer in the office. "Okay, let's go." The three of them leave the school quietly and are escorted to the precinct in silence.

Lucas stares at his hands the whole way there. The same hands he pinned Griffin to the ground with. He clenches and releases and repeats. "Dad," he says solemnly.

"Son."

"Back in Texas... When Zay was in trouble. And I beat up Garret. I didn't feel as bad after. I actually broke his nose and impaired his vision in his left eye. But I feel worse now." He bites his lip. "Will I always feel like this?"

"It's different," his dad explains quietly. "You knew the risk and the price and you even know what your actions did after. Right now, this Griffin kid, he's in the hospital getting treated. You don't know what did so you feel guilty."

"It's bad, Dad. I got so angry because of what he did to Maya and what he put her through. I thought I was going to kill him. I could have."

His dad frowns. "Officer," he gets Gomez's attention in the driver seat. "Any information on the boy?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that," he replies.

His dad rolls his eyes. "We'll find out eventually."

They arrive at the station and are greeted by Topanga. She's sporting a worried, yet determined look on her face. She immediately hugs Lucas and shakes his father's hand. "Nice to see you, Jackson. Too bad it's under these conditions."

"Thank you f'r seein' us, Topanga."

"Any time. But I need to know the whole story." She motions them in to the building and officer Gomez gives the three of them ten minutes in one of the interrogation rooms. Topanga, the badass she is, pulls out notebooks and a thick binder and pen. Lucas and Jackson sit adjacent and she gets to work.

"So... tell me what happened."


	2. yin-yang

Topanga scrawls a thousand words on a page feverishly. Lucas watches in awe. There are 76 missed texts from Riley and 14 missed calls. 19 missed texts and 2 missed calls from Farkle. 1 missed call from Maya.

He tenses up. "Mrs. Matthews?" She looks up at the boy, worn and concerned. He swallows and nods at his phone. "Can I call Maya? She called a few minutes ago."

She thinks for a moment. "Yes. But if there's any pertinent info I should know I need to be informed." He nods and excuses himself from the room, finding a quiet area around the corner in the station.

He dials Maya and she picks up after the second ring. "Lucas," she says, her voice full of relief.

"Maya, what's wrong, are you okay?" he starts to worry.

"I'm fine," she says. "But I just heard that Griffin is in emergency surgery for a collapsed lung."

Lucas nearly drops his phone. "I-I didn't mean to do that, Maya, you have to believe me." He's starting to hyperventilate.

"Lucas, breathe," Maya says soothingly. "Go tell Topanga. My mom is dropping me off at the station. I'll see you soon." She hangs up and he can't help but wonder where's she's suddenly getting her strength from.

He enters the room and sits quietly. Topanga waits. He stares at his hands and works up the courage to say something but can't find the words. He almost killed Griffin. Hell, the night's still young, there's still time left for his lung to not heal. He could be a murderer at any time. He trembles in his seat and bites his lip so hard it almost bleeds.

"Lucas, honey, what's wrong? What did Maya say?" She grabs his hand, confused.

"I-I-I..." he whispers hoarsely. "Griffin... he's being treated... For a collapsed lung." He chokes on a whimper. "I almost killed him." Jackson pats his son's back. He's never dealt with someone like this before. And it kills him that it's his own son.

Topanga frowns but writes something else in her stack of notes. "I've decided that the best course of action to take is self defence. Yes, you were protecting Maya, but he also attacked you. You just confronted him. He hit you first, right?"

Lucas thinks for a moment. "I don't remember," he says honestly, upset.

"It's okay. He made contact first. That's what we're going with. Officer Gomez will be here any moment," she tells the gentlemen in front of her. "You're going to have to step outside, Jackson. But you're allowed to watch in that room," she points at the mirror.

Lucas looks at the mirror and suddenly has visions of every cop show he's ever seen. The mirrors are always two way glass. People might be watching right now. Wouldn't that ruin Topanga's plan? he thinks to himself. He mentally laughs at himself. She knows exactly what she's doing. She's the best defence attorney in the state.

Jackson turns to look at him. "Son, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'm proud of you. You were raised to protect your friends and that's all you've been doing your whole life. I have absolute faith in this woman," he adds, looking at Topanga. "You're going to be just fine. Just tell the truth and everything will work out the way it should."

Lucas nods as Gomez comes in with a brown folder in his hands. It isn't as thick as he's used to seeing on TV. He's not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but he lets it go. Topanga switches seats when Jackson leaves and Gomez sits where she just was.

"Okay, Lucas," he greets. He puts a voice recorder in the table and Lucas's mouth goes dry. "What happened between you and the victim?"

Twenty six minutes later, Lucas steps out of the room with Topanga, whose expression is indecipherable. He stretches a little and turns to his saviour. "Thank you, Mrs. Matthews. For everything." He goes to hug her.

She smiles. "Any time. But you and Maya need to talk to Riley. And whatever happened just now isn't over. There's more to come. I'll let you know if I hear any information on Griffin, though."

He nods, thankful. She smiles and rubs his back as she leaves. He takes a deep breath. He thinks about Texas and the time he went there with all his friends. He thinks about the night Maya confessed her feelings for him and changed everything between the four of them. Their little group worked when it was him and Riley. But now it's the three of them. Not much was said after that. School was almost over. Only about a month away. He stopped going on "dates" with Maya and he stopped looking at Riley like she was the world. Because he didn't know what he felt anymore.

He turns around and sees Maya looking at him, fiddling with her sleeves.

"Hey," he says awkwardly.

"Hi," she returns, standing up.

They gaze at each other for a moment and he looks outside. "Let's go home."

He walks Maya to her apartment in silence. The streets are quiet as it's the evening. He notices how pretty her street is, despite her building being the oldest on the block. He looks down at her while they walk and she's still bunching the sleeves of her shirt in her hands, a nervous habit, he concludes.

She takes a deep breath and he waits for her to say something. But she doesn't. She has a pained expression on her face. They walk a little while longer until they're standing out front of the gate. "This is me," she states solemnly.

He nods.

There's silence.

And more silence.

"Look, I-"

"I want to-"

They stop abruptly, interrupting each other. She laughs slightly and he brushes his hands through his hair. More silence.

"Look, I'm sorry," she almost yells. He looks at her in confusion. "For everything. For telling you I liked you over a month ago, for ruining your thing with Riley, for getting you involved in this shit. I'm sorry I ever fell for you and for jeopardizing the best thing in our lives with the best person in our lives." Her eyes are welling up again and she's looking away in the distance.

"Maya," he whispers.

"It's okay, Ranger Rick. I'm a big girl," she says, wiping her eyes. "I can handle this alone." She turns to go inside but pauses. "Thank you, and I'm sorry." She runs to her building then.

"Maya, wait!" he calls, chasing after her. The inside door locks then, and he's locked out of the building, left with the image of Maya in tears as the elevator door closes in front of him. He slams the wall then and hisses at the pain.

* * *

Lucas takes a deep breath as he enters the school the next day. People are quiet and they stare at him. Words are whispered between mutters. He keeps his head down and braces himself for what used to be his favourite class of the day: history.

He closes his eyes and prepares himself for the hurricane coming in his direction. He walks in to the classroom and takes his seat. The class quiets and he faces the blackboard with a stony look. Riley doesn't look at him, except for the casual side glance here and there when she thinks she's being stealthy. He sighs and opens his books when Mr. Matthews walks in and gives him a look of skepticism. He stares at the dull pages and pretends to read.

Then Maya walks in.

He almost manages to not look at her. But he screws up. He looks at her and his breath hitches, because for the first time in a long while, she's smiling. Her earphones are in and she takes her seat without a word. She pulls out one earbud but to his surprise, leaves the one facing her friends in.

She pulls out her books and starts to read. Everyone is staring at the two of them, despite the fact they're ignoring each other. He stares at the back of her head, her golden blonde hair gracefully spilling on his desk. Riley peers at Maya, a grim look on her face. Lucas buries his face in his textbook. He can't bear deal with this class.

Mr. Matthews sits down and looks on his class expectantly. "What's the word, Hambone?" Farkle asks casually from his seat.

"You tell me," he retorts.

There's dead silence among the students.

Riley is visibly struggling with biting her tongue.

Maya is lightly drumming with her pencils.

Farkle sits there, bored.

Lucas want to scream.

"Lucas?" Riley whispers, confused and worried. He looks at her and says nothing. "What's going on?"

He shrugs but Maya speaks from her seat, not sparing anyone a glance. "Tell her, Ranger Rick," she says, looking at her books, turning the pages casually. "Tell her all about it, because you know you want to."

"Maya, I would never do-"

"Tell me what?" Riley interrupts, annoyed. "Tell me why you never answered my texts? Or you..." she glares at Maya. "Tell me why you ran out and haven't spoken to me since then. Were you just trying to get Lucas al-"

"Griffin Feldman has been making me his personal punching bag for the last few weeks and it got to be too much to handle. Riley, believe it or not, not everything is about you," Maya spits. "Lucas only got involved because he found me and wouldn't go away." She rips her jacket off and gets in Riley's face. "You see these bruises? I didn't bump in to a wall. And these cuts?" She gestures to her back and shoulders. "I didn't run in to a tree, Riley. Griffin did these." She's really angry, Lucas can tell. Her eyes are welling up in tears but her face screams anger and betrayal.

She looks at Riley, then at Farkle, then at Lucas, and back to Riley, who stands up to speak. "Maya, I'm sorry," she says in a strong, yet shaky voice. "Why didn't you tell me? I'm your best friend."

"Riley, I don't know what we are anymore but we've hardly spoken since Texas," Maya replies lowly. Lucas notices everyone staring as per usual. Maya continues, "and really? Your best friend? You just sat there and tried to accuse me of causing a scene to get close to Hop-Along over there. That's not how best friends treat each other."

Lucas looks in desperation at Mr. Matthews but he's not taking his eyes off the girls.

Riley wipes her eyes. "Best friends stay away from their best friend's boyfriend."

"He's not your boyfriend, Riley, and I did stay away! It almost fucking killed me but I did because you're the person I care about most in this world and I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want to keep any more secrets from you," Maya yells. "And I didn't want this to happen, but big shocker, it happened anyway."

Lucas stands up. "Stop!" He slams his fists on the table. "You are Riley and Maya, the sun and the moon -" he looks at Farkle and back at them. "Angel's food cake and devil's food cake. You're better together. I'm just a guy, okay, don't let me ruin all your years of friendship! I'd rather never date either of you than let our group get destroyed over something as trivial as this. You bring out the best in each other!" He sits down with a heavy sigh and closes his eyes to control his temper.

The girls sit down quietly and refocus their attention to their teacher, who's been listening the whole time. They're both rattled but stay silent.

Mr. Matthews stands up from his desk and turns around with a piece of chalk in his hands and slowly, carefully, writes "Yin Yang" on the board. "Yin yang is rooted in Chinese philosophy," he begins. "What does it mean, Farkle?"

Farkle sits up and rattles off the information. "Yin and yang are opposing forces or sides that are actually complimentary," he says matter-of-factly. "Like good and bad, blue and orange, peanut butter and chocolate-"

"Riley and Maya," Lucas finishes. Both girls cock their heads slightly at their names but don't say anything.

"Exactly," Mr. Matthews says. He moves back to the chalkboard. "You've probably seen the symbol before." He draws a big circle on the black board and a curvy line in the centre, similar to an S, to divide it. He puts two smaller circles in each half on opposite sides of the circle, top and bottom. He colours one half white with his chalk and the opposite small circle as well. "You can see," he continues, " that each side has a small piece of the opposite in its own half. The white half has a little bit of black in it. In terms of good and bad, which is what it's often used for, it shows how's there's always a little bit of bad in good people and a little bit of good in bad people."

Zay pipes in from behind Lucas. "So what yer sayin' is, that there's a little bit of Riley in Maya and a little bit of Maya in Riley," he concludes.

"That's not what I'm saying, Zay. But if you can take anything away from that then I'm doing my job," Matthews replies. "Why do you think so?"

Zay gestures to Riley. "She jus' a few minutes ago got real mad at Maya 'cause she was left in the dark about her situation and assumed the worst. But I've been here long enough to know that Riley ain't usually like that, sir. She's usually a ray of sunshine. So I know that there's a lil bit of Maya in there," he explains. "And with Maya, see, she stepped back from good ol' Lucas here, because she didn't want to ruin her relationship with Riley. Usually Maya's the kind to do for herself and only herself, but she didn't this time. There's some Riley in her."

Lucas frowns. Zay was right. Maybe that's why he liked Maya, too. Because together, the girls are unstoppable.

"Interesting," Mr. Matthews said. "Pages 132 to 140. Read them, learn about Yin and Yang, and write a 500 word report on why you think it's a good or bad thing." Everyone sighs. He turns around but stops. "Oh and Maya," he sings.

"Oh no," she groans.

"For using such vulgar language in my classroom, detention."

"'Kay," she answers, opening her books.

"Daddy," Riley says in a high voice.

"Yes?"

"You'll love me no matter what, right? No matter what I do?" she asks slowly.

"...yes?" he responds timidly.

She swallows and stands up, readying herself. "Fuck."

Maya looks at Riley with wide eyes, her expression mirroring Mr. Matthews.

"Detention," he says, "and grounded for two weeks."

She sits down and nods.

Lucas stares at the girls in horror and awe.

"Yin and yang!" Zay yells, amused.

"There you go," Mr. Matthews smirks.

Later that day, when school is over, Lucas takes a peek at the classroom detention. He grabs his bag and very slowly moves towards the door and looks in. He sees Riley and Maya laughing with each other like nothing happened and he hopes everything can maybe go back to normal.

* * *

Thank you for the reviews so far. They make me smile. And if you lost faith in lucaya after this chapter, don't.


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